July i, 1891.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
3 
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ail American Ceylon Tei “corner ” on a large scale. 
What his reception lin.a been I can gather pretty well 
from the Vipinioni thoae interviewed have erprCRsed to 
TOO in -convorsatiou on the subject. Judging of it in 
the form in which he has EUbniitlcd his project, they 
■do Viot hesitate to-.jsy that it is unworkable and un- 
'dcsirab'o. The rustlt of an interview with him is a 
rather favourable impression of his personality. He is 
quite young and somewhat of the “ masher ” in his 
got up, and cockiioyish in hie speech. In America 
only the best of evorythiug was tolerated, and that 
wt.e why Chinn tea was taking a back-sent and 
Ceylon leaf coming to the front. Quality made all the 
running in their great country, and that was the 
reason why they wiiliei to place tho article in a 
favorable position in Ihoir market. In England cheap 
JU. a are wanted because the bulk of the public are 
not weaiVd;*, hut too often the reverse, whereas in the 
great land of tlip Stars and Btrines, where marvellous 
developments are taking place, the great hulk of the 
population ate well-to-do, and, being that, they can 
afford to buy good articles : iid will have none other, 
and that is why Ceylon tea has coma into favor with 
them so rapidly. They niim'iered sixty millions of 
inhabitants, and they could and woul 1 buy sixty 
million lb- of Oeylou tea if they could get it. They 
have lu’herto been great consumers of coffee, but tlie 
berry has risen so much in price that very many 
were taking to ten in preference when they could 
obtain it good* His ostiuiate, be said, had been sub- 
mitted to trade experts and prouotinced perfec'ly 
sound. New bis idea was that, by judicious combin- 
ation, they could buy up these sixty millions ol Ceylon 
tea, and, by having it all packed on the spot where 
labor is cheap, in neat, attractive, and oriental looking 
packets much outlay would be saved and if in addition 
they could procure the sanction of the Ceyloo 
Government to stamping each packet wi‘h the official 
seal or arms of the authorities, by payment of a 
small royalty, the tea would make rapid w'ay in public 
estimation with snob a prestige ns tho s'ainp would 
give. They should not want for funds, ol which they 
could command any amount when tlie arr.irigements 
for obtaining sole ouiiimand of the island produce 
were finished ; the strongo-t financiers would bo with 
them, and the capital required could be had in a day. 
Mr. May was a.ssnred that there would be no diftionlty 
ill purchasing crops in advance on contract if the 
rates suited, without resort to the device of a “cor- 
ner”, hilt ho did not ocnsidir tha* mode of making 
the arrangement in question would be suftioiontly 
“ comprehensive ", and preferred absorbing the entire 
tea interest of the i-Iand — how could estate ownirs 
possibly object? Claims on their properties could be 
arranged for, and, though there would perhaps be 
some liBviiig an interest in the existing state of things 
by shipment to Europe and Australia, that matter 
could bo easily arranged. There is, 1 think, no doubt 
but that Mr. KIwoud May is thoroughly in earnest 
and a full believer in the praoticability of his “ corner”; 
but as to bow many others ho will succeed in bring- 
ing to his way of thinking is another matte- 
—London, Cor. local “ Times.” 
Uow TO Srcurk Americans for “ I’i'he 
OevlonTea." — There are two places where, away 
rom their own Continent, Amerioans most do 
congregate, namely Paris and Cairo or Egypt gene- 
rally. The Indian Tea Associabion have been before 
us in Paris and greatly may they continue to flourish. 
But why should our Ton Fund Committee not 
tabs some active step to promote tho free sale of 
pure Ceylon tea in Cairo, Alexandria and Port Said ? 
if once it be known that the Committee want an 
agent for Egypt to sell only “ Pure Ceylon Tea” 
in its towns, the right man will no doubt quickly 
turn up- 
* This heardly agrees with the previous statement 
about tbo buying capabilities of the American people. 
— En. 
DEVELOPING THE ZAMBESI REGION. 
The British South African Company have engaged 
a practical botanist |A. Whyte, lately 
of Nuwnra Eliya. — Ed. T. A.] who has 
had over twenty years’ experience in tho 
cultivation of produce in Ceylon, to proceed to 
heir territories in Zambesi and superintend the 
development of their vegetable resources. The 
gentleman in question, with whom we had an inter- 
view a taw days ago, loaves early in May for 
Zanzibar, whence he will proceed by way of tho 
Zambesi to bis destination in the neighbourhood 
of the Shird Highlands. His attentions will be 
directed not only to tho collection and export ol 
such native produots as are likely to find a market 
in Europe, snob as rubber, gums and gum resins, 
olesginous plants, and so forth, but he will also 
try the aoolimalisation of tropical and subtropical 
produots. Coffee is already oultivatod with success 
in Zambesia ; tea is going to be tried, but the 
company are alive to tho danger of over-production 
in this article. Cocoa and tobacco are thought to 
hold out greater hopes of success. As regards drugs, 
needless to say, cinchona will not bo tried. Opium- 
culture has been experimented in before in Mozam- 
bique, tho result being a signal failure. Cardamoms 
and vanilla are among the first drugs to be tried, 
and Iho aulhorilies have promised to lend every 
possible assistance in procuring plants and giving 
advice as to cultivalion. Now thata train ’d botanist 
is about to proceed to the country ol the strophan- 
thus, wo may expect the speedy elucidation of the 
mystery still surrounding tho botanical olasaifluation 
ol (he drug, The first soBion or two, however, are 
likely to be taken up with preliminary investigations 
ol the climatic conditions of tbo country, meteo- 
rological observations, *o. Native labour will be 
employed in tho first instance, under the supervision 
of overseers from Zanzibar, Ceylon, and British 
India , — Ohemiat and DmogiH. 
MICA IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 
An experienced prospootor sent rut by a number of 
gcuUorat n in Adelaide last December has discovered 
a large deposit of mica ot superior quality amongst 
the ranges about sixty miles from Farina. The place 
is called by the blacks ‘Miltc Miltaua,’ meaning ’big 
mica, or anreat lot of mica’. It is ou a steep mountain 
creek, which is so plentifully strewn with large pieces 
of mica that a person is oontinnally expecting to come 
npou tho source of the snpply, hnt he has to travel 
about a mile and a halt before the creek cuts sharply 
through a dyke of fully 150 ft. wide, and exposed on 
cither side to a height of 200 ft. Tho rook in which 
it occurs is a compact felspar with veins of quartz 
and mica throughout it. He reports that there cau 
be no question about the abundance of the mica. The 
rock is solid, and requirca a few shots in it before 
largo pieces can bo got, but with proper means he 
tliiuks he can send down a largo qnautity of very fine 
pieci R. He has found a good road for drays into the 
mica over a saddle in the i-angc, and ho says that drays 
can bo taken within fifty yards of tho plnoo. The cost 
of carting to the railway would not exceed £-1 per ton. 
The Government geologist also reports that several 
prospecting parties are looking for or obtaining mica 
in the dietriot of tho Alice Springs. The mica is 
generally fonnd in coaise granite dykes nisooiated 
with quartz reefs or blows, scattered through the rooks, 
and also in bnnohos and layers. It is uncertain in its 
ooourrenop, and the small surface enterops are easily 
worked. When these have been worked out, shafts 
will have to be sunk in the granite and gneissio rook, 
and tho bunches and irregulor layers ot mica sought 
for by drivers and crosaouts. The mica outcrops arc 
tolerably numerous, bat it is only in exceptional cases 
that the plates are of a size considered worth working. 
